Speakers

Keijo Hämäläinen serves as President of Tampere University. Prior to his current role, he was President of the University of Jyväskylä from 2017 to 2023. He has previously held various positions at the University of Helsinki, including Vice President, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Professor of Physics. Hämäläinen received his doctorate in physics from the University of Helsinki in 1990. He has held prominent positions of trust within Finnish academia, such as Chair of the Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities (UNIFI) in 2020–2021, and Board Member of both the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Henna Virkkunen serves as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

Her responsibilities include addressing the complex security challenges facing the EU, strengthening both external borders and internal security, and safeguarding freedoms, justice and democratic values across the EU. In addition, she oversees digital and frontier technologies and leads efforts to build a competitive, resilient and inclusive digital future for the EU and to secure EU’s leading position in strategic digital technologies.

Virkkunen served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2024 and as a Member of the Parliament of Finland from 2007 to 2014. She has also held ministerial roles as Minister of Education, Minister of Local and Regional Government and Minister of Transport in Finland. Virkkunen is widely recognised as an active advocate for European cooperation, digital competitiveness and democratic values.

Photo: Mikko Mäntyniemi

Lasse Lehtonen took up his position as the Director General of The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) at the beginning of June 2025. He joined Kela from the HUS Group where he served as the Director of Diagnostic Services while also holding the position of Professor of Health Law at the University of Helsinki. Prior to that, his experience includes various management positions in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa and at pharmaceutical company Orion. He has also been a member of advisory board on effective ways in investing in health of the European Commission from 2013 to 2022 Lehtonen holds doctorates in both medicine and law. He has specialised in clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy and has been an assistant professor of clinical pharmacology in Tampere University since 2004.

Kai Sauer has served as the Ambassador of Finland to Germany, based in Berlin, since 2023. Prior to his posting in Berlin, he held the position of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

During his distinguished international career, Sauer has also served as Finland’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in New York and as Ambassador to Indonesia.  From 2003 to 2004, he worked as Senior Adviser to Harri Holkeri at the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). He also served as Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Martti Ahtisaari, during the Kosovo Future Status Process (UNOSEK). Sauer is widely recognised for his expertise in multilateral diplomacy and security policy.

As the Ambassador of Finland to Germany, Sauer focuses on three key themes: security policy, EU collaboration and economic affairs. In 2014, he received the Alumni of the Year Award from the former University of Tampere.

Ville Voipio is a distinguished board professional with extensive experience in leadership and development roles related to sustainable technology. Since 2021, he has served as Chair of the Board of Directors at Vaisala, a Finnish company specialising in environmental and industrial measurement equipment and data solutions.

Voipio is an active contributor to public discussion, advocating for a strategic approach to sustainability, solutions based on the latest technologies and the energy transition. In 2024, he received the Sustainability Award from the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion. In 2025, he also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors at Technology Industries of Finland. Voipio has been a member of the Board of the Directors’ Institute Finland since 2020 and holds the position of Professor of Practice at the University of Turku. He has held a docentship in the digitalisation of primary healthcare at the former Tampere University of Technology and later at Tampere University since 2013.

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen studies citizens’ political behaviour and trust, elections, and political values and attitudes. She has been appointed to lead Finland’s national Election Study Consortium between 2025 and 2029.

Kestilä-Kekkonen has been responsible for several major research projects, including Pathways to Political Trust and Education, Political Efficacy and Informed Citizenship, both funded by the Research Council of Finland. She is a prolific author in the field of political science and served as Editor-in-Chief of Scandinavian Political Studies between 2017 and 2020. In both 2023 and 2024, she received the Teacher of the Year Award from students enrolled in the Degree Programme in Politics at Tampere University.

Photo: Jonne Renvall, Tampere University

Rinna Kullaa serves as Associate Professor of Global History at Tampere University, where she teaches courses on global history and the history of Ukraine. She is among the members of the Global Coalition of Ukrainian Studies. Kullaa has been a pioneer in the study of maritime geopolitics in the post-Second World War era. Her research focuses on the comparative history of diplomacy across the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. She has acted in a specialist capacity for institutions such as the UK Parliament and the US State Department.

Kullaa’s international academic career has included teaching courses on Mediterranean history at Sciences Po in Paris, Russia’s role in the Middle East at the American University of Beirut, and Ukraine’s influence on global politics at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She has led several research projects funded by the Research Council of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Kullaa completed her International Baccalaureate Diploma in Copenhagen, Denmark, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, a Master of Philosophy in Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in Modern European History from the University of Maryland.

Thomas Olsson is Professor of Human-Centred Design at Tampere University. He leads a research group focused on the study of social technology, digital ethics and the sustainable design of ICT. Olsson’s research combines behavioural and social sciences with technology to foster the development of a more sustainable and inclusive digital future.

Olsson serves as academic director of the Digital and Sustainability Transitions in Society research platform and oversees the international Master’s Degree Programme in Computing Sciences and Electrical Engineering at Tampere University. He has led several research projects exploring topics such as the impact of artificial intelligence on journalism, the accessibility of digital services for migrants, and emotions in digital media.

Photo: Jonne Renvall, Tampere University

Juho Saari has a long-standing background in advisory roles at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, where he has contributed to strategic initiatives, EU affairs and the development of research and innovation policy. He has served in a specialist capacity for several ministers and policymakers.

Saari has published more than 70 books and over 170 peer-reviewed research papers on topics including social policy, public economics, well-being, social inequality and societal innovations. He has led more than 90 research projects and participated in numerous national and international initiatives in a specialist role. His areas of expertise include social and health policy, social inequality, social disadvantage and the social dimensions of the European Union.

Heli Skottman has conducted research on human stem cells for more than 20 years. She has extensive experience in the commercial application of biotechnological solutions and has played a key role in founding several spin-off companies.

StemSight is a company that develops treatments for corneal blindness using stem cell transplants, which are based on research conducted by the Eye Group led by Skottman at Tampere University. In 2020, StemSight was awarded as the most innovative biosciences start-up in Europe at the BioFIT Startup Slam.

Skottman has received numerous awards, including the Award for Scientific Courage from the Research Council of Finland (2010), the Council of Tampere Region’s award for medical innovations (2019), the Scandinavian Society for Biomaterials Research Award (2019), and the local newspaper Aamulehti’s Valo Award (2021) for outstanding research promoting well-being in the Tampere region.

Photo: Jonne Renvall, Tampere University